Polish railway worker wakes after 19 years in coma

[Superlative]

Man this would be weird.


WARSAW, Poland - A railway worker who emerged from a 19-year coma woke to a radically altered Poland and is learning to adapt to his new life, Polish media reported.

"I wake up at 7 a.m. and I watch TV," Jan Grzewski, 65, told TVN24 Television over the weekend, smiling slightly as he lay in bed at his home in the northern city of Dzialdowo.

"I could not talk or do anything, now it’s much better," he said in a weak but clear voice, some two months emerging from his coma.

Wojciech Pstragowski, a rehabilitation specialist, said Grzewski was shocked at the changes in Poland’s economy _ especially its stores: "He remembered shelves filled with mustard and vinegar only" under communism.



Poland shed communism in 1989 and has developed democracy and a market economy.

In 1988, Grzewski fell into a coma after he was injured attaching two train carriages. Doctors also found cancer in his brain and said he would not live, according to the local daily Gazeta Dzialdowska.

When doctors could do no more, Grzewski’s wife Gertruda took him home and cared for him, Gazeta said.

"I would fly into a rage every time someone would say that people like him should be euthanized, so they don’t suffer," she told Gazeta. "I believed Janek would recover," she said, using an affectionate version of his name........


http://news.bostonherald.com/international/europe/view.bg?articleid=1004619

 

[Truthmatters]

Now that is one great wife!

 

[Care4all]

This is an incredible story and gives hope to those out there with family members in a coma!

It also shows that we are no where near understanding the brain in full and doctors that claim people in comas may live a couple of years obviously are clueless and should stop predicting the results of these type of situations when they clearly do not know enough about it to make these kind of naysayer predictions.

We REALLY don't know what would or could have happened with Terri Schiavo if she had been allowed to live the next 40 years of her life.

We don't know if medicine and present research in the future could not have healed or regenerated parts of her brain that were dead.

I think about this, whether the country made the right ethical decision on Schiavo, but then I remind myself, that the basis of the outcome of this case was, Terri did not want to be kept alive if she were on life support.

Where I differ, is that I do not believe a feeding tube is the "life support" that terri was talking about or thinking about, but more like the breathing machines that Karen ann quinlan was on, or a machine to keep the heart going, or a machine maybe to even to keep her kidneys going while in a coma.... but a feeding tube?

a feeding tube is NOT some machine that makes her stomach work....

her stomach organ worked just fine....

the feeding tube was necessary because she could not swallow.

My grandfather had a mild stroke and lost his ability to swallow and was given a feeding tube for over a year, eventually through therapy, he was able to swallow again on his own and the tube was removed.

care

 

[Truthmatters]

Care they can measure brain activity and she had none , she was a shell and the autopsy proved it.

This man was comatose,it was different.

 

[Care4all]

Care they can measure brain activity and she had none , she was a shell and the autopsy proved it.

This man was comatose,it was different.

TM, Terri wasn;t killed off because her brain activity was dead,

the reason she was killed off is because the courts ruled that it was her intentions to be taken off of her life support, her comments to relatives were regarding the condition that Karen Ann Quinlan was in at the time of her conversations. This was a huge issue at the time because it was the law that one could NOT be removed from life support if they were in a coma. Karen's parents fought that their daughter did not want to be left on life support, after many years Karen's parents won their case.

Karen's life support, a respirator to make her breath, was removed, to allow her to die, on her own.

Much to EVERYONE'S SURPRISE, Karen began breathing on her own when the respirator life support was removed by court order.

Karen Ann Quinlan was also being FED via a feeding tube. When the court ordered Karen's life support removed, IT DID NOT INCLUDE her feeding tube, that was considered inhumane and not a life support specifically for her but a necessity under any condition for any human, a resource for nutrients and water.

Karen Quinlan continued to live, off of her mechanical life support for nearly another 10 years before she died a natural death. She was fed through a tube this entire time.

I disagree that a feeding tube is the kind of organ life support Terri felt should be removed.

the only reason she is dead now, is because the court ruled this was HER WILL....I happen to disagree with them on this decision based on the circumstances I mentioned above regarding Karen Qinlan's case, and the fact that it was Qinlan's case that was part of the conversations she had with relatives and friends regarding her living will.

NOT because her husband wanted her dead.

 

[Truthmatters]

At her families request because she didtn have brain activity.

Congress and ohters tried to step in saying she wasnt brain dead.

Remember Frist's video diagnosis?

 

[Annie]

TM, Terri wasn;t killed off because her brain activity was dead,

the reason she was killed off is because the courts ruled that it was her intentions to be taken off of her life support, her comments to relatives were regarding the condition that Karen Ann Quinlan was in at the time of her conversations. This was a huge issue at the time because it was the law that one could NOT be removed from life support if they were in a coma. Karen's parents fought that their daughter did not want to be left on life support, after many years Karen's parents won their case.

Karen's life support, a respirator to make her breath, was removed, to allow her to die, on her own.

Much to EVERYONE'S SURPRISE, Karen began breathing on her own when the respirator life support was removed by court order.

Karen Ann Quinlan was also being FED via a feeding tube. When the court ordered Karen's life support removed, IT DID NOT INCLUDE her feeding tube, that was considered inhumane and not a life support specifically for her but a necessity under any condition for any human, a resource for nutrients and water.

Karen Quinlan continued to live, off of her mechanical life support for nearly another 10 years before she died a natural death. She was fed through a tube this entire time.

I disagree that a feeding tube is the kind of organ life support Terri felt should be removed.

the only reason she is dead now, is because the court ruled this was HER WILL....I happen to disagree with them on this decision based on the circumstances I mentioned above regarding Karen Qinlan's case, and the fact that it was Qinlan's case that was part of the conversations she had with relatives and friends regarding her living will.

NOT because her husband wanted her dead.

I repped this. I agree that Schivo case was hinkey, because of the husband. The courts only had his word about a conversation they had one night, the husband that basically had gained at the time, a common law wife.

With that said, I never thought it was ok for the federal government to get involved with the Schiavo case, which SCOTUS agreed with. I think a wrong was done, by FL, but that is where the change should occur.

Quinlan had made her desires about extraordinary care known, as stated after a long battle, they were respected, though the 'outcome' was different than forseen. The parents never tried to euthanize her however.

 

[Care4all]

At her families request because she didtn have brain activity.

Congress and ohters tried to step in saying she wasnt brain dead.

Remember Frist's video diagnosis?

I disagreed with trying to get the federal court involved all along and disagreed with the republicans in near total on how they handled this issue at the time, including the "diagnosis", that is not the issue that made me a maniac during this period! .

And she IS NOT DEAD because her family, (the husband) requested it, the courts allowed her to be killed because they RULED that it was the WILL of Terri herself, based on her husband and her husband's sister's testimony....and because A NEW MEANING to artificial organ life support was created less than 3 years earlier, to include a feeding tube. It had not been considered artificial life support before this....

 

[Care4all]

I repped this. I agree that Schivo case was hinkey, because of the husband. The courts only had his word about a conversation they had one night, the husband that basically had gained at the time, a common law wife.

With that said, I never thought it was ok for the federal government to get involved with the Schiavo case, which SCOTUS agreed with. I think a wrong was done, by FL, but that is where the change should occur.

Quinlan had made her desires about extraordinary care known, as stated after a long battle, they were respected, though the 'outcome' was different than forseen. The parents never tried to euthanize her however.

Thank you Kathianne

I went nuts during this period arguing the issues regarding this case...I am still haunted by the decision....

 

[mattskramer]

Thank you Kathianne

I went nuts during this period arguing the issues regarding this case...I am still haunted by the decision....

Please make a detailed living will so that this problem does not happen to you. I think that everyone should have a living will. It would practically eliminate fights like this.

 

[RetiredGySgt]

I won't make a will like that. I am torn, I do not want to live on like that BUT I provide most of the income for my family and it will continue being paid even if I am in such a state. As will the hospital bills.

I will leave the decision to my wife and to God.

 

[mattskramer]

I won't make a will like that.

Then who will know what you want and who will believe that such a person is telling the truth about what you want?

I am torn, I do not want to live on like that BUT I provide most of the income for my family and it will continue being paid even if I am in such a state. As will the hospital bills.

That may be the case, until your money runs out. I hope that you have tens of millions of dollars available from yourself or from an insurance company. With modern expensive medical technology you could be taken care of for decades.

I will leave the decision to my wife and to God.

Do your other family members and people of interest (parents, brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles, creditors, priests, pastors, etc.) know that you want your wife and God to make the decisions? What if a conflict of interest develops?

Isn’t this similar with what happened with Shivo. Her husband supposedly thought that she did not want to live in the condition under which she was “living”. Her parents thought otherwise.

It is unlikely that you will ever face a similar situation but I’d rather have everything spelled out just in case – so that there would be no family fight concerning my desires if I was ever to fall into such a condition.

Get a will.

 

[RetiredGySgt]

No thanks, you do not know my financial situation nor my medical coverage. I will continue as I have. Though maybe the next time I am in the hospital I will make one that just says, "ask my wife" will that satisfy you?

 

[mattskramer]

No thanks, you do not know my financial situation nor my medical coverage. I will continue as I have.

I didn’t ask how much money or insurance you have. I was merely making a point that with modern expensive medical technology, one might need allot.

Though maybe the next time I am in the hospital I will make one that just says, "ask my wife" will that satisfy you?

My satisfaction is not the question. Ultimately, I don’t care what you do. I am merely giving my opinion and what I would do. What you said would work - When you are in a hospital and capable of communication, you might sign a document. If you are unconscious (incapable of communicating your wishes) from the very beginning, and medics (ambulance, etc.) need to be called on your behalf, what will happen – after several years or decades.

 

[Gunny]

This is an incredible story and gives hope to those out there with family members in a coma!

care

Not to mention hope for liberals.